North Broadway Jiu Jitsu
Address
2324 Marconi Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States
Phone +13146604820
About Us
The past few days have been a roller coaster for sure. And even though I was able to bring home Pan Am gold, these two pictures sum up the happiest moment of my trip. My blind brother and championship roommate Adnan Gutic showed up to California 3 lbs. over his weight limit and at an airport an hour away. He had three days to make weight and while also making sure I was mentally prepared for my tournament. Though Adnan was a college wrestler he was in no hurry to lose the weight. Because I was the only one who could see how much he was eating I was a bit nervous. In a last two day rush to make weight I nagged him to hydrate and eat fruits but he refused to eat ANYTHING and also barely listened to me plead with him to drink sips of Gatorade. Adnan put on a plastic suit and 4 layers and did a 40 minute run on the treadmill two days before his competition and then a 30 minute routine of running up and down the stairs at the hotel the day before. I thought he was going to pass out both times, but every time I went to get him he was dizzy and drenched but still pushing on and wanted nothing more than for me to shut up and stop telling him to drink water and weigh himself. On the competition day Adnan made weight with 3 lbs. to spare.
But Adnan battle wasn’t over. Adnan sprained his ankle 1 minute into the warm up because his idiot teammate (me) let him get too close to the edge of the mat and couldn’t stop him before he came down on the side of the mat wrong. I couldn’t believe he got that far and was going to be out because of an ankle… but after pumping him back up he was ready to roll. We get him out for his match and he wins his first match and makes it look easy and then for the next one they assign him without checking his ID and he fights the wrong guy. After losing that match, the refs thought It was only fair to let the guys fight the correct opponent. Adnan fought like a champion in his next two matches and made it to the final. As I stayed with him and walked him to and from his matches and wherever he needed to be, all the Brazilians and other opponents would stop me and praise Adnan and wish him luck and a few people even wanted to take pictures with him because of how hard he fought. Even Adnan’s competitors clapped for him when he won and helped him back to the waiting area as they raised his arms in victory. Adnan won the championship by one point, and everyone in the stands cheered for the lion from Bosnia.
